After summits with Trump, Merkel says Europe must take fate into own hands

[Gary A]

US citizens are similar to the NATO countries. They all want something for nothing. The US, after many years, socialist government has buried the country in a 20 trillion dollar debt. How do you get out of a deep hole? The first thing you have to do is to stop digging. Getting out of the carbon tax scam is a small step and getting the EU countries to pay their fair share for THEIR own defense is another step. Getting the corrupt welfare people off the welfare roles is also necessary. Social Security has and is being raped. Getting the phony (NON) disabled people off disability is another step. Calling Medicaid what it actually is, WELFARE,  should not be funded by people who worked all their lives for their retirement benefits. Trump is hopefully working towards that goal and there is already weeping and gnashing of teeth. Heaven forbid that the government should cut off generation after generation of people on the government teat. The career politicians main interest is getting reelected and that applies to both parties. Their main tactic is to promise even more wasteful spending.

 

What happened to the work permits for Mexican farm workers? They would come and harvest the crops, then go back home after the harvest season with a pocket full of money. The government has seen fit to make these hard working people criminals. The politicians did that under the guise of providing jobs for US citizens. They did not consider that the citizens would much rather stay on welfare. Now fruit and vegetables rot because the farmers cannot find legal workers.

 

Socialist liberals need to open their eyes and have a long look at what they have created. The US can no longer afford to be the world's policeman.

[Thakkar]

2 hours ago, Ramen087 said:

good god, man.  it's like you ate a thesaurus for lunch and you're burping up litlle bits.  take a chill pill.  you're drawing some wild conclusions.  

Why, yes, I *do* have a thesaurus. Sadly, it's not as good as the one Trump has, 'cause I couldn't find in it the word "covefefe"

[Kiwiken]

5 hours ago, Gary A said:

US citizens are similar to the NATO countries. They all want something for nothing. The US, after many years, socialist government has buried the country in a 20 trillion dollar debt. How do you get out of a deep hole? The first thing you have to do is to stop digging. Getting out of the carbon tax scam is a small step and getting the EU countries to pay their fair share for THEIR own defense is another step. Getting the corrupt welfare people off the welfare roles is also necessary. Social Security has and is being raped. Getting the phony (NON) disabled people off disability is another step. Calling Medicaid what it actually is, WELFARE,  should not be funded by people who worked all their lives for their retirement benefits. Trump is hopefully working towards that goal and there is already weeping and gnashing of teeth. Heaven forbid that the government should cut off generation after generation of people on the government teat. The career politicians main interest is getting reelected and that applies to both parties. Their main tactic is to promise even more wasteful spending.

 

What happened to the work permits for Mexican farm workers? They would come and harvest the crops, then go back home after the harvest season with a pocket full of money. The government has seen fit to make these hard working people criminals. The politicians did that under the guise of providing jobs for US citizens. They did not consider that the citizens would much rather stay on welfare. Now fruit and vegetables rot because the farmers cannot find legal workers.

 

Socialist liberals need to open their eyes and have a long look at what they have created. The US can no longer afford to be the world's policeman.

Actually I take exception to the word Socialist added to Policies. A US citizen (those I have met) confuse Social Democratic systems with the Old Communist ("so called Socialist ) systems. If the US had had any Social Democratic systems you would have excellent health care, education and retirement benefits for all. And if that was the case and you had 20 trillion dollars of debt you could argue it was money well spent. But the truth is the majority was spent on the Military Industrial complex and bailing out corrupt US Banks and Businesses like General Motors and Chrysler. The sad thing is for all his rhetoric Trump and his administration are champions of this. 4 years from now you will have double the debt and not 20 but 40 million unable to afford health care or retirement.

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, Gary A said:

 

They did not consider that the citizens would much rather stay on welfare. Now fruit and vegetables rot because the farmers cannot find legal workers.

 

New Zealand tried to solve that by stopping welfare for able bodied dole bludgers while the Kiwifruit picking season was on. Unfortunately, some of the bludgers are unwilling to do a decent day's work and are a problem for the companies.

[Thakkar]

12 minutes ago, Kiwiken said:

Actually I take exception to the word Socialist added to Policies. A US citizen (those I have met) confuse Social Democratic systems with the Old Communist ("so called Socialist ) systems. If the US had had any Social Democratic systems you would have excellent health care, education and retirement benefits for all. And if that was the case and you had 20 trillion dollars of debt you could argue it was money well spent. But the truth is the majority was spent on the Military Industrial complex and bailing out corrupt US Banks and Businesses like General Motors and Chrysler. The sad thing is for all his rhetoric Trump and his administration are champions of this. 4 years from now you will have double the debt and not 20 but 40 million unable to afford health care or retirement.

Don't forget the unfunded 10-years Bush Tax cuts that, contrary to promises made, failed to improve the lives of most Americans. They did however increase the rich/poor divide as well as increase the deficit.

 

[Kiwiken]

52 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

New Zealand tried to solve that by stopping welfare for able bodied dole bludgers while the Kiwifruit picking season was on. Unfortunately, some of the bludgers are unwilling to do a decent day's work and are a problem for the companies.

While I dislike those who think welfare is a right and not a privilege offering $15 plus not accomodation for workers to relocate to work. Wages for Fruit pickers are lower now thanks to Foreign workers. Sadly many industries also use Foreign workers as a means to depress wages arguing they cannot get local workers. I work in the Food Industry and I know many kiwis refused jobs where foreign labour is hired over them. Hence why we earn 30-50% less to Australians in the same Industries. And yet still Factories close and move to Australia

[Gary A]

48 minutes ago, Thakkar said:

Don't forget the unfunded 10-years Bush Tax cuts that, contrary to promises made, failed to improve the lives of most Americans. They did however increase the rich/poor divide as well as increase the deficit.

 

 

Anyway you look at it, the national debt when Obama took office was 10.6 trillion. When he left office it was 19.9 trillion. How do you justify that? He is the first president in history to spend more on welfare programs than national defense.

 

There is no doubt that Trump will also have a huge deficit but at least much of that will be spent on infrastructure and lower taxes on businesses. It will take a while to see the benefits but I am confident that his plan will be beneficial for the country.  

Edited June 3, 2017 by Gary A

[thaibeachlovers]

11 minutes ago, Kiwiken said:

While I dislike those who think welfare is a right and not a privilege offering $15 plus not accomodation for workers to relocate to work. Wages for Fruit pickers are lower now thanks to Foreign workers. Sadly many industries also use Foreign workers as a means to depress wages arguing they cannot get local workers. I work in the Food Industry and I know many kiwis refused jobs where foreign labour is hired over them. Hence why we earn 30-50% less to Australians in the same Industries. And yet still Factories close and move to Australia

Unfortunately, till they invent a machine to replace pickers, there aren't enough NZers to pick the fruit, even if everyone on welfare were used. For now, overseas picker are essential.

A friend of mine is in the industry at a high level so I get that from the inside, not opinion.

 

BTW, the pickers are exploited to a certain extent by camp grounds where they stay in large numbers. They deserve whatever they can get paid.

Blame the government for not setting decent wage rates, which allows exploitation.

 

Kiwis earn less than Aussies and pay more for everything. IMO we should become an Aussie state.

Edited June 3, 2017 by thaibeachlovers

[Thakkar]

16 minutes ago, Gary A said:

 

Anyway you look at it, the national debt when Obama took office was 10.6 trillion. When he left office it was 19.9 trillion. How do you justify that? He is the first president in history to spend more on welfare programs than national defense.

 

There is no doubt that Trump will also have a huge deficit but at least much of that will be spent on infrastructure and lower taxes on businesses. It will take a while to see the benefits but I am confident that his plan will be beneficial for the country.  

 

When Obama took office:

the Bush Tax cuts were still in effect

The two wars started by Bush were still on-going

The Bush recession—the worst American recession since 1929—was still going strong

 

That trail of Bush diarrhea took eight years to clean up and explains most of the increased deficit.

 

Don't forget that, before Bush, the current account deficit was on a downward trajectory and the US was expected to soon be paying down its deficit which led to projections of healthy economic growth. The Bush administration used those projections as part of their arguments to pre-spend the yet unearned money with tax cuts.

[ilostmypassword]

18 minutes ago, Gary A said:

 

Anyway you look at it, the national debt when Obama took office was 10.6 trillion. When he left office it was 19.9 trillion. How do you justify that? He is the first president in history to spend more on welfare programs than national defense.

 

There is no doubt that Trump will also have a huge deficit but at least much of that will be spent on infrastructure and lower taxes on businesses. It will take a while to see the benefits but I am confident that his plan will be beneficial for the country.  

Obama came into office in the wake of the worst economic situation since the great depression. So blaming him for the masive increase in the deficit in nonsense. As events have since demonstrated, if a government slashes its spending in the wake of a financial recession, massive deficits occur anyway, and more people suffer. As for Trumps infrastructure plans, they've been astonishingly vague and seem to favor being financed by giving massive tax breaks of 82% to private interests who build them. What's more, the kind of revenue generating projects that private interests favor are more likely to be built anyway.  

[Kiwiken]

54 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Unfortunately, till they invent a machine to replace pickers, there aren't enough NZers to pick the fruit, even if everyone on welfare were used. For now, overseas picker are essential.

A friend of mine is in the industry at a high level so I get that from the inside, not opinion.

 

BTW, the pickers are exploited to a certain extent by camp grounds where they stay in large numbers. They deserve whatever they can get paid.

Blame the government for not setting decent wage rates, which allows exploitation.

 

Kiwis earn less than Aussies and pay more for everything. IMO we should become an Aussie state.

Yes when Antartica melts and Aussies stop being racists

[Gary A]

4 hours ago, Kiwiken said:

Actually I take exception to the word Socialist added to Policies. A US citizen (those I have met) confuse Social Democratic systems with the Old Communist ("so called Socialist ) systems. If the US had had any Social Democratic systems you would have excellent health care, education and retirement benefits for all. And if that was the case and you had 20 trillion dollars of debt you could argue it was money well spent. But the truth is the majority was spent on the Military Industrial complex and bailing out corrupt US Banks and Businesses like General Motors and Chrysler. The sad thing is for all his rhetoric Trump and his administration are champions of this. 4 years from now you will have double the debt and not 20 but 40 million unable to afford health care or retirement.

Are you aware that Obama was the first president in history to spend more on welfare than defence? Now, paying the interest  on the national debt is another crippling problem that may be impossible to overcome. Maggie said it best, "Socialism is a wonderful system until the people with money run out of money".

 

The only way out of the hole is to hope that Trump will eliminate silly job killing regulations and put the professional welfare clients to work so they will pay at least some taxes rather than suck the government teat.

 

Anyways, if you refuse to respect Trump, at least respect the office. Obama is no longer president, Trump is. It should be obvious that things have not been good for the country. Severe, and likely painful changes are urgently needed. The bloated government and pork barrel useless spending needs to be eliminated. I doubt we'll ever see term limits for our useless congress but that would be another big help.

[Andaman Al]

1 minute ago, Gary A said:

The only way out of the hole is to hope that Trump will eliminate silly job killing regulations and put the professional welfare clients to work so they will pay at least some taxes rather than suck the government teat.

There is no bigger government teat to suck on than the one Trump and his thug friends and piggy children suck on. Trump uses every trick in the book to not pay taxes, then he says he is concerned about how tax payers money is spent. Now you want 35000 people a year to go out and pay taxes that would be equivalent to a fair year of taxation from Trump. When Trump pulls back all the jobs he outsources for his companies to manufacture in Asia then you can start to focus on 'silly job killing regulations' (whats are they by the way?  Can you give us an example of 'silly job killing regulations'?)

[StevieAus]

On 5/29/2017 at 6:53 AM, boomerangutang said:

                  It's true.  Though Merkel lost some respect during the massive migrant issue (which is still going on), she's now gaining respect.  She's emerging as the leader of the so-called 'Free World' (countries which rely on real democracy and free press, unlike the US, Thailand, China, N.Korea, Zimbabwe, etc).

 

                  Britain still has some relevance in Europe, but the US is fast fading in its leadership role, due to the fatally flawed and borderline-treasonous people at its helm.

I would suggest that you learn some more about about N Korea and Zimbabwe before you include them in the above group

Rather a stretch of the imagination !!

[ilostmypassword]

26 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Well, I for one have do not have a favourable opinion of politicians of any party, so what you write does not surprise me. However, are you saying there were only 8 democrats in the senate and 57 in the house?

While there may not be a direct link, letting the leash off greedy and unscrupulous people is never a good idea.

IMO, expecting a "prominent group of economists" to speak out against bankers would be like foxes saying it is a bad thing to kill chickens.

You clearly are completely unfamiliar with the works of several extremely prominent economists. Here's some homework for you: Thomas Pikkety, Jared Bernstein, Paul Krugman, Bradford DeLong.  There are lots and lots of others.

[thaibeachlovers]

5 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

You clearly are completely unfamiliar with the works of several extremely prominent economists. Here's some homework for you: Thomas Pikkety, Jared Bernstein, Paul Krugman, Bradford DeLong.  There are lots and lots of others.

I was referring to Srikcir's "prominent group of economists".

[ilostmypassword]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I was referring to Srikcir's "prominent group of economists".

Let me quote to you exactly what you wrote:

"IMO, expecting a "prominent group of economists" to speak out against bankers would be like foxes saying it is a bad thing to kill chickens."

You didn't refer to this group particularly, You made a broad generalization about prominent economists.

[Srikcir]

18 hours ago, Gary A said:

He is the first president in history to spend more on welfare programs than national defense.

Long overdue.

Unfortunately Trump will reverse that trend by giving defense historical increases and Americans will lose their "welfare" safety nets. But good cheer. The middle class and low income taxpayers will once again (as they did from Bush and Reagan tax reforms) instead pay for the hundreds of billion dolars of tax relief to the 1% of the nation's wealthy instead benefiting their own economic and health security.

[Gary A]

Personally I have an aversion for able bodied leeches being generation after generation on welfare. Why should hard working people pay for these leeches? Socialists simply don't care and are themselves likely on welfare. That's the very reason Obama was reelected. 

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, Gary A said:

Personally I have an aversion for able bodied leeches being generation after generation on welfare. Why should hard working people pay for these leeches? Socialists simply don't care and are themselves likely on welfare. That's the very reason Obama was reelected. 

Really? A huge majority of scientists and people in the IT industries vote Democratic.  Ethnically speaking, the most successful groups, Asian Americans and Jewish Americans, also vote overwhelmingly Democratic.  A big majority of the states that receive more in tax money than they give  overwhelmingly Republican.

[Scott]

A post which violates Fair Use Policy has been removed along with replies.

 

When people quote more than 3 sentences and don't provide a link, please don't quote it because the original post will be removed and so will replies.  

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Let me quote to you exactly what you wrote:

"IMO, expecting a "prominent group of economists" to speak out against bankers would be like foxes saying it is a bad thing to kill chickens."

You didn't refer to this group particularly, You made a broad generalization about prominent economists.

I know you want to get me banned by trolling everything I say and hoping to provoke me into saying something I regret, but it's getting very boring. I'll try to ignore you in future.

[ilostmypassword]

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

I know you want to get me banned by trolling everything I say and hoping to provoke me into saying something I regret, but it's getting very boring. I'll try to ignore you in future.

If you mean by "trolling" calling you to account for inaccurate statements, then, yes, I'm trolling you. I have not attacked you personally, I haven't called your motives into question. I haven't used emojis, the last refuge of the clueless, to make a point. I'm simply stating that what you wrote is demonstrably false. And it's you who is making it personal by calling me a troll.  And if that isn't an example of trolling, I don't know what is.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed.   I think we can stop with the personal remarks.  

[Thongkorn]

On 5/29/2017 at 0:11 PM, Grouse said:

Wrong

Right do some research, Britian has been paying into NATO since 1947, France started in the 70s German has only been paying 1.5% of GDP. the agreement was  2%, will not go on about Spain and the rest, 

[friendofthai]

"take fate into own hands"

Vassals want to be free. But their boss from the other side of the ocean will not allow them.

Edited June 4, 2017 by friendofthai
add text

[OKF]

On 29.5.2017 at 5:29 PM, Retiredandhappyhere said:

And if Merkel's dream of a United States of Europe ever comes to fruition, which country do you think will be the leader?

Germany of course and it will be good for Europe....

[Thongkorn]

On 8/18/2017 at 11:28 PM, OKF said:

Germany of course and it will be good for Europe....

Bless, get well soon Son